


I Hate High School

by Lady_Anon_x



Series: High I.Q Yet Totally Stupid [7]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: BAMF Spencer Reid, Episode: s05e13 Risky Business, F/M, Mentions of Suicide, That school scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 23:41:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29358912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Anon_x/pseuds/Lady_Anon_x
Summary: Based off that scene in Season 5 Episode 13 - Risky Business.Hallie and Spencer talk to a bunch of high school kids.
Relationships: Spencer Reid/Original Female Character(s)
Series: High I.Q Yet Totally Stupid [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2139099
Kudos: 7





	I Hate High School

“Reid, West. You two are the youngest and more likely to connect with the kids. Morgan, go with them.”

Hallie groaned, “I _hate_ high school kids.”

Spencer let out a huff of laughter, “You and me both.”

Morgan was driving, Spencer reading and Hallie in the back seat as they made their way to the school.

“What were you like in high school?” Morgan asked her.

“Emm, mostly the same as I am now, I suppose. I was speeding through the classes, just trying to make it to college. High school was hell and the playground for cheerleaders and the like.”

Spencer reached his hand, palm up, into the back seat and Hallie slapped it.

“Anything different they didn’t like. They didn’t like my long hair, how I always had my work done, how I could remember every single tiny detail about everything. I was tiny as well, so I was well acquainted with the inside of my locker.”

They all got out and walked into the school, the principle showed them to one of the classrooms.

“These are agents from the F.B.I. They wanted to talk to all of you today about the events that have been happening.”

They could already hear the snickers of the children and Spencer rubbed his hands together nervously.

Hallie stepped forward and sat on top of the teachers’ desk, “Hi, everyone. My name is Doctor Hallie West, that is Doctor Spencer Reid and that is Agent Derek Morgan.” The kids all looked at her blankly and she was immediately transported back to her own high school days. “Have any of you heard about ‘The Choking Game’?” The kids still looked at her blankly. _Teenagers_. “No one?” she sighed, “This game involves the player to try and choke themselves to see who can get the biggest high. Doctor Reid, would you like to explain to these kids what the dangers of playing this are?”

Spencer nodded and stepped forward and looked at the class, “This game involves the player doing an incredibly dangerous act in order to win. To achieve this, the player uses the process of two different mechanisms, strangulation, and hyperventilation. These two mechanisms create the same effect, oxygen deprivation in the brain.”

Hallie sat and studied the children when she saw one of them smiling and laughing with his phone out. She stood up from the table and walked down the side of the classroom, stopping in front of the boy. Spencer stopped talking due to the confrontation, “Hand it over.” She extended her hand and smiled sweetly at him.

The boy huffed and put his phone into her hand. She stood up and read it out loud, “What planet is this dude from? He just doesn’t want us to win the contest.” The other kids in the classroom snickered and laughed.

Spencer stuttered and rubbed his hands together nervously. “Well, uh, I think the more accurate statement would be, ‘he doesn’t want us to participate in the contest at all’.” Something came over him and he walked over to the empty desk in the middle of the classroom, “This was Ryan’s desk right? This is where Ryan sat?”

No one in the class answered but some squirmed in their seats.

Hallie tutted as she left the phone on the kids’ desk, “You guys remember Ryan, right?” she asked them. “He played football, took Shaunna to prom.”

Spencer leaned on the empty chair and looked forward at the board, “I’m assuming some of you were even _friends_ with Ryan.”

Hallie leaned on the desk and looked the no longer smirking boy in the eyes, “Ryan wanted to win the contest too.” She stood back and walked around the room, making eye contact with every kid, “The way Ryan choked himself cut off all the oxygen to his brain. This sent a distress signal to his heart, slowing it down.”

Spencer followed her lead and walked around the room, also making eye contact as he went, Spencer talked as surely and clearly as he could. “His brain, in an effort to preserve itself, shut off all non-essential bodily functions. His arms gave out and his legs gave out. He couldn’t loosen the tie around his neck. This is when panic set in. In Ryan’s case, it escalated to cardiac arrest.”

Hallie stood in the corner of the back, beside the second door. “This meant that his heart stopped, brain damage began. And in four minutes, Ryan was completely and totally brain dead.”

They knew better than most that the only way you can get through to teenagers is fear.

Spencer went back to leaning on the teacher’s desk.

“He died scared and probably in a lot of pain. Unable to stop a situation he thought he had complete control of. All because he wanted to participate in, what I consider to be, a pretty… pretty lame game.” He gestured towards the boy, “So, I mean, your text is actually completely accurate. I don’t want you to win the contest, because I don’t want you to play the game at all.”

The kid put his head down, the smirk completely wiped off his face. Other students looked to the ground. Finally, they had gotten through to them.

One of the teenagers at the back of the room scoffed, “You all believe this crap?”

“You don’t?” Hallie looked over to the teen, his black hair was spiked up, dark eyeliner around his eyes, gothic wardrobe and a large choker around his neck. A really large choker.

Morgan called out, “Why don’t you come up and tell us what you think?”

The kid sighed and stood up, “Whatever.” He walked slowly behind the class but didn’t turn to go up the aisles. She unfolder her arms and stood up from the wall.

The kid broke out into a run and pushed her through the doorway, to the ground on his way out, sprinting down the corridor. Morgan jumped over her and sprinted after him.

Hallie groaned as she moved to pick herself off the floor, a hand came into her view and pulled Hallie to her feet. She slapped her jacket, trying to get the dust off.

“You okay?” Spencer looked over her worriedly.

“I’m good.” A crash came from further into the school and the two darted down the hall.

As she ran through the hall a sense of familiarity washed over her, “I feel like I never left this place.”


End file.
